Vatican fails to take account of my travel plans

Oi! Vatican! Are you 'aving a larf? I go away for 24 hours to lecture for some good Benedictine nuns and celebrate Mass for them, spending several hours each way on trains boats and buses and you decide during this period when I am away from the blog:

1. To announce that the SSPX have responded to the doctrinal preamble and that it only remains for the CDF and the Pope to consider it. And the Vatican Press Officer, Fr Lombardi, admits that it is encouraging and that there is a desire to reach a conclusion. (Texts found most easily at Rorate Caeli as well as other posts with analysis.)

3. To announce a Vatican Widget in honour of the anniversary of the election of Pope Benedict.

OK, so n.3. was not as important as 1. and 2., but I have sent off for the widget eagerly in order to take up the promise that, as the English version of the communiqué states: "it will be possible to export all the principal novelties."

n.1. is very encouraging and certainly is a good reason to set aside some of my Easter money for a bottle of champagne to celebrate when things do come to a conclusion.

n.2. is of course sad in a way. Omar Gutierrez admonishes us: Let’s Be Sober About the LCWR Assessment and I suppose it would be unseemly to get plastered and end up watching EWTN's coverage and chanting "You're not singing anymore!" So we had better not do that. Still, I think that many faithful Catholics will rejoice that the Holy See is taking practical steps to implement advice that the Holy Father gave to the Bishops of England and Wales on the last ad limina visit:

In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free.

As to champagne, Fr Z is sticking with the one that featured for the announcement of Summorum Pontificum. I'm minded to branch out and get some Bolly.

Get link

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Google+

Email

Other Apps

Popular posts from this blog

I am happy to pass on the following information concerning the forthcoming Colloquium of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend myself this time, but I pass on the notice with my support and recommendation.
Booking is now open for the Autumn Colloquium of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, which this year takes place at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, from Wednesday 15th till Thursday 16th November.

Speakers include Bishop John Keenan of Paisley, Monsignor John Armitage (Rector of the Shrine at Walsingham) and Father John Saward.

I am trying to pray the Office each day. Should I only use the official breviary or can I use the Little Office of Our Lady?
The second Vatican Council encouraged lay people to pray the Divine Office; indeed the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy encouraged parish priests to see that Vespers are celebrated in Churches on Sundays, something that is quite rare nowadays. So it is an excellent practice for you as a lay person to pray at least a part of the Office. By doing so, you unite yourself to the whole Church in the prayer which Christ offers up as our High Priest. It is rightly called a sacrifice of praise when we pray the psalms to sanctify the hours of the day.

Priests and religious are bound to celebrate the Divine Office every day and must use the Office that is approved for them. Secular priests, for example, must use either the Liturgy of the Hours (the Office that was composed after Vatican II) or the older breviary that was approved before the Council. Lay people who are no…

When I was a student in Rome, I remember going with a priest for Mass in one of the ancient Churches. The priest said that he was going to use Eucharistic Prayer II because it was the most ancient of all the prayers and was specifically Roman, composed by Hippolytus. This was the standard view at that time (early 1980s) but has since been called into question. A number of people have recently mentioned the matter to me and so here are a few notes for you.

In the 19th century, a number of ancient texts were discovered that were similar to the "Apostolic Constitutions", (of which the first modern edition was published in 1563). Among these texts was a document which came to be referred to as the “Egyptian Church Order”. In addition, the Canons of Hippolytus and the Testamentum Domini were discovered.

The scholarly consensus in the early 20th century on the dependence of these documents was that the “Egyptian Church Order” was in fact the "Apostolic Tradition" of Hippol…

The first is the most fundamental. Kwasniewski rightly says that it should be engaged before examining any particular principle behind the new lectionary. It is the question of the purpose or function of reading the scriptures at Mass. As he puts it:
“Is it a moment of instruction for the people, or is it an element of the latreutic worship offered by Christ and His Mystical Body to the Most Holy Trinity.”
He affirms that what we may call the doxological purpose is primary.

This question determines any subsequent discussion of what passages are chosen, how they are distribut…

Dilexit Prior in Letters from a Young Catholic asked some useful questions today about indulgences. I thought it would be best to do a post here especially to cover the controversial question of detachment from venial sin. But first the other questions:

The conditions for gaining a plenary indulgencePope Paul VI set down a number of norms relating to indulgences at the end of Indulgentiarum Doctrina. Norm 7 states:To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfil three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial, except for the provisions contained in n.11 for those who are “impeded.”It is worth reading the other norms because …